


Catch Me (I'm Falling)

by wonker8



Category: Avengers Movie-verse
Genre: M/M, Something about Clint falling and Hulk/Bruce catching him makes me happy, accepting death, but no actual death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-27
Updated: 2012-07-27
Packaged: 2017-11-11 23:30:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/484100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wonker8/pseuds/wonker8
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>5 times Hulk caught Clint, 1 time Bruce did.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Catch Me (I'm Falling)

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fill for [Avengerskink prompt](http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/5102.html?thread=5228014#t5228014): Five times the Hulk caught Clint when he fell, and one time Bruce did.

1.  
If there was one thing that Clint really hated about being a sniper, it was the falling. He was trusted as the one to have his eyes on everyone’s backs, which meant that he was always some place really high up. Like now for instance. He was sitting on the ledge of 180-story building. And being some place high, of course, meant that there was a good chance that he could fall.

Like now, for instance.

The most recent invasion of New York City involved strange octopi that floated around and strangled people with its tentacles. Clint had been doing well fighting against them until a tentacle wrapped itself around Clint’s throat and fell off of the building. Normally, the octopus would have just floated off, but this one had been shot down a few seconds before by Clint’s own arrows. So now, Clint was falling off of a 180-story building with a giant octopus wrapped around him as a deadweight.

Life really sucked.

“Hey…? Can someone catch me?” Clint asked through the comm. “I’m… sort of falling.”

Tony cursed over the comm and stated, “Shit! I’m too far away from where you are! I can’t-!”

Steve hissed and started asking around for Thor, who still hadn’t figured out how to use the comm system and was now flying overheads while shocking down some octopi. Natasha was also sharing curses over the comm, which pretty much told Clint that he was screwed. Great. Just great. He was going to die because of a giant octopus pushed him off of a building. How was this cool?

“Well, you know, I had a pretty good life,” Clint decided to say instead. “You guys are an awesome team, and I couldn’t have asked for a better one. Thanks for everything.”

“You are not giving up, Barton!” Natasha shouted through the comm. “We can still get you out! Stark-”

“Can’t! Still tangled up!” Tony’s voice was strained with anger and frustration. Clint didn’t blame him.

“Someone contact Thor, now!” Steve growled. He was probably trying to talk to SHIELD agents, but it appeared that no one could get the Thunder God’s attention.

“You know, I was hoping that my end would be a little cooler,” Clint mumbled. “Pummeling to death just doesn’t sound as cool as death by torture or something like that.”

“Barton!” someone’s voice warned over the comm.

Clint closed his eyes. Well, he might as well as accept this…

Then something snatched him from the air, holding him tightly to a giant chest, almost like a child holding a small bird gently in his arms. Clint opened one eye and was greeted by the sight of giant green hands.

Hulk.

The archer giggled at that. “Guys! I’m fine! Hulk caught me!”

2.  
They were on a Quinjet. This was supposed to have been a simple mission. They were supposed to drive the Quinjet over a small town where the bad guy of the week was trying to invade, jump out, and save the day. What they didn’t expect was for the bad guy of the week to fire a giant missile at the Quinjet, breaking the jet’s engine.

Luckily, there were enough parachutes for everyone to jump down to the town safely (minus Thor and Tony, who had just flown down safely to the ground). They’d have to call SHIELD and ask for a ride back home, but otherwise, it would be fine. They would all just jump down, the parachutes would all open and they would all land perfectly safely so they can save the town.

Supposedly, that was.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” Clint screamed as he desperately pulled on the string to expel the parachute. Nothing happened. “It’s fucking broken! Help me!”

But there was no response from the rest of his teammates. There were too much wind in the air, and Clint’s screams were being swallowed up by the screams of the panicked townspeople. Of course this is what would happen to him. He was going to die like this. Because all of his teammates were distracted by saving lives and they didn’t hear Clint’s screams for help.

Then two giant green arms wrapped itself around Clint and the two plunged to the ground. Thanks to Hulk’s nearly indestructible body, there was absolutely no damage to Clint. It really was times like these that he was grateful for teammates.

“Nice catch, Jade Jaws.”

3.  
The thing that sucked the most about fighting supernatural beings like Loki was that magic could literally do anything to destroy you. And Clint was cursing his life for agreeing to allow Swordsman to teach him how to defend himself, and for Trickshot for teaching him how to shoot arrows. Because if neither of them had done so, then maybe he wouldn’t be hanging for his dear life on the edge of the cliff.

His bow had fallen off a while back, and his quiver was mostly empty of arrows. His comm had been disabled by the wave of Loki’s hand, and the rest of the Avengers were distracted by the Trickster. If this had been any normal time, then Clint would have just climbed back up the cliff. The only problem was that his hands had been injured and his hold of the rocky edge was becoming slippery with blood. If he were to let go…

“This sucks,” he mumbled. Should he let go? It wasn’t like he could climb up and it really didn’t look like anyone could come help him. Would it be more dignified to let go on purpose or wait until his hands lose grip? He wasn’t sure at all.

“Well, here goes,” he thought.

Then he let go, his eyes shut closed. But instead of a harsh impact against the rocky ground below, a giant green hand shot out and took hold of Clint’s arm.

“Hulk not let Cupid fall!”

Clint’s eyes snapped open and he looked at the Hulk, who was looking grimly at the archer. He grinned. “Thanks, Jade Jaws!”

4.  
It wasn’t like they were trying to save the world this time. Clint hadn’t been some place high, trying to fight against the bad guy of the week. Instead, he had been in the vents of Bruce’s lab, just hanging out in blessed peace and quiet of the lab. How was he supposed to know that the construction didn’t take care of the vents and that he was going to fall through?

There was Bruce in the lab when Clint had been crawling through the vent. But it was the giant green hands of Hulk that caught Clint.

“Hey there,” he said. “We really need to stop meeting like this.”

“Cupid clumsy,” Hulk replied.

“Naw, just unlucky.”

“Hulk caught Cupid,” Hulk said. “Cupid lucky.”

Clint laughed at that. “Yeah, I guess you’re right, Jade Jaws. I’m rather lucky, aren’t I?”

5.  
A fucking mind controller. Out of every single villain in the world, why did they have to go against a mind controller? Granted, the guy was a complete amateur and was taken down in seconds, but that wasn’t the point here. The point was that there had been a mind controller that had been parading in the streets of the New York for god knows how long.

Clint punched the wall with as much force as he could. He heard the snaps of his knuckles, and could feel the blood smearing against the wall. His hand throbbed, and he wondered if maybe this was bad, maybe he shouldn’t have punched the wall using his dominant hand. He breathed out slowly, trying to get himself back in control. He had to calm down, he had to.

“Cupid okay?” Hulk asked softly as he came to the archer’s side.

“Yeah, I’m… Shit. Who am I kidding? I’m not okay at all,” Clint said. He moved to put his back against the wall, and then slid down to the ground. He lightly smacked the back of his head against the wall. “I’m not okay.”

Hulk sat down in front of Clint, but the archer still had to strain to look up at him. The giant looked upset, unsure of what to say. He nudged at Clint’s feet, and tilted his head to the side.

“Hulk can catch Cupid.”

“What?”

“If Cupid falls, Hulk can catch Cupid.”

“Yeah. Yeah. Sure, you can.”

Giant green hands were held palm up in front of Clint. “Hulk can catch Cupid now.”

The archer couldn’t help but to smile softly. Oh. That was what he meant. Hulk wanted to catch Clint from his emotional free-fall. He chuckled. He couldn’t help it. Trust the Hulk to know exactly what to say.

“You’ve already caught me, Jade Jaws.”

+1.  
The blood kept dripping. His left shoulder felt dislocated, and it almost felt like he was dragging it around. He was limping, one of his ankles might be dislocated, or maybe it was just his leg in general. He wasn’t sure at all. The blood was thick and he could smell the iron in the air. He limped forward.

“Bruce,” he mumbled under his breath.

Wasn’t it odd that it was times like these that he wanted to see Bruce? Granted, he always wanted to see Bruce. He didn’t know why, but according to Natasha, this was one of the signs of being in love with someone. His eyes fluttered shut but he continued to walk forward. He knew the way towards the lab even without his eyes open. He knew how to get there.

He could see Bruce’s face in his mind’s eyes. He could see the soft smile, the shy looks. He could see Bruce’s worried eyes, Bruce’s lips pulled into a thin line. He could hear Bruce’s soft whisper, asking him if he was okay, asking him where he was hurt. He could feel Bruce’s hands, gently brushing at Clint’s skin. He could feel Bruce’s arms wrapping securely around him as Clint collapsed to the ground.

“Caught you,” Bruce whispered softly.

Ah. That wasn’t all in his mind, then? Clint smiled.

“Took you long enough.”  



End file.
